You spend hour after hour singing this song, with so much verve and simple joy, that you have me curious. What is this song? Why do you sing it, and sing it with such regularity and repetition? This song? you ask me in return. Yes, this song. It’s called ‘Love Song’, naturally. What other song would you sing, indeed. And while my voice is too weak and meagre to join you in the chorus, I share in your delight by offering my own mild-mannered translation, my meek and sincere attempts to understand:
時光是琥珀 淚一滴滴被反鎖
情書再不朽 也磨成沙漏
青春的上游 白雲飛走蒼狗與海鷗
閃過的念頭 潺潺的溜走
What is time but drops of tears locked in amber gold
Love letters ground to dust by the sands of the hourglass
Our younger days shift like clouds, impossible to hold
Hopes that we’ve had trickle away, then gone, then passed.
命運好幽默 讓愛的人都沉默
一整個宇宙 換一顆紅豆
回憶如困獸 寂寞太久而漸漸溫柔
放開了拳頭 反而更自由
What strange humour Fate has, leaves lovers lost for words
“Would you exchange the whole universe for a seed of love?”
Memory a caged beast tamed by loneliness into a wingless bird
Release the fist and set yourself free as you would a dove.
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You keep singing. I keep smiling. Love songs, some are sappy, some are old. Some are infatuations kept close to the breast, some are epics bright and bold. Does it matter who is singing and who is sung to, so long as the love song keeps going, between me and you?
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What We Have Been Up To, Part III
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MACAU (澳門), TAIPA (龍環) & COLOANE (過路環) • Macao Special Administrative Region, The People’s Republic of China.
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Copyright © 2011 Kenny Mah Ying Fye. Pictures by Devil CK. 情歌 (or “Love Song”), as sung by Fish Leong: Lyrics by 陳沒, music by 伍冠諺 & arranged by 陳建騏. Translation by Kenny Mah.
Kenny Mah believes in the good in people. He has been blogging for over ten years. No, his hands aren't tired. Yet.
Thank God for subtitles! Haha.
@Ooi SHien Lung: Yes, well. These “subtitles” sure took a fair bit of effort on my part to come up with – I have a new-found respect for professional translators. Consider this amateur appropriately humbled!
Ahhh.. I feel like have phei tarn sau yoke chuk. Have you tried KFC’s portugese tart?
@gfad: Nope, not tried the KFC version but I have a feeling it would pale in comparison with the original Lord Stow’s Bakery in Coloane, Macau.
Lovely to be able to yumcha in the morning with friends.. *hint hint* ;)
@gfad: Totally. Couldn’t agree more. I wonder which friend I would be yumcha-ing next with? *hint, hint*
eh, the lyrics of this song sound very melancholy lah. talking about lost youth, wicked fate, and so on. you should be singing and listening to this with tears in your eyes, not a smile on your lips :D
@Sean: It’s the singer and the soaring song upon his lips that sweetens my smile (and not the subtly sad sentences).
nice song, and nice lyrics! (good thing you had an english translation!) i especially like this bit: “Our younger days shift like clouds, impossible to hold
Hopes that we’ve had trickle away, then gone, then passed.”
nice pics from macau! never been, but it looks nice. and good to see you did some serious eating too. lol. (somehow that doesn’t surprise me!)
funny you should go to macau while i went to portugal this summer. i see the portuguese brought their lovely “pasteis de nata” pastry to macau. mmmm!
@luuworld: Those two lines that you like were the hardest to translate in fact. A literal, Google-aided translation would have been:
“Youth upstream, clouds fly away, ashen dog and seagulls,
Gurgling away the idea of flash”
But I think I captured the meaning of the original lyrics, if not a word-by-word translation.
Macau’s Portuguese heritage mingled with the ethnic Chinese culture on the islands & peninsula makes for a very unique (and tasty) experience indeed!
Ah, fish leong. :)
@Michelle Chin: Yes, Fish Leong, haha. Devil’s more familiar with this singer though I’m swiftly being swayed by her vocal charms. Queen of Love Ballads, indeed.
I forgot my headphones today so will have to listen to that YouTube song later (I’m on the subway).
ooh, macau.
I’m not into the casinos but the old parts of town are great to explore. my only regret is that I didn’t find an old shop there selling real macanese tiles. I would have loved a big box full of them to use somewhere in my future home.
@mr sekimachihato: I love how you make full use of your subway time commuting in Tokyo to read and write blog posts. Wish I could do that too, but I drive to work, unfortunately.
The old parts of town are our favourite. One really is in no danger of getting lost since it’s such a small place but the frozen-in-the-past charms are many if one is looking. (We didn’t notice any Macanese tiles being sold though.)
Be the best of lovers & be the best of friends, ‘coz with God’s will.. your love song will never end.
*hugs hugs to both of you*
@jemima: Thank you, dear. I like that second bit – something we often forget – to be best of friends too, not only lovers.
*sends shiploads of hugs your way from both of us*
SHIP SOME PORTUGESE EGG TARTS OVER NOW!!!
@Jun: Would love to, dear, but I left Macau a month ago… Oops.
“Youth upstream, clouds fly away, ashen dog and seagulls, Gurgling away the idea of flash”
haha! good thing we have our brains in addition to google when it comes to translation! “Youth upstream”…..LOL
@luuworld: Hahaha… I know, it’s crazy, right? That’s why I adore Google Translate. Sometimes it’s sheer joy just to get it to translate some random sentences, and then re-translate it back to English. Madness. Hahaha…
but still i think that’s an excellent translation. i just not able to do that. Very nice song. I like ” love will keep us alive” by eagles and this one..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWATvSCXLeQ&feature=related
@lena: “I love myself the way I am”? That is a beautiful notion. And what serendipity too – for I just jotted down this little phrase a few days ago, thinking to write about it later – “I am beautiful as I am.”
Hurrah!
I missed this post, for some odd reason. Hmm..
But anyway, love this song. She’s got a real voice, Fish Leong.
Another anyway, I was given to think that Macau was all about casinos and gambling. I was literally told that if I don’t gamble, I won’t find Macau interesting. But I read in your comments there are “old parts of town” which caught my eye. I like.
@Michelle: A real voice, yes. Darn tough song to translate to do it justice though. (Hence me only attempting the first couple of verses.)
Macau’s totally fun even without hitting the casinos. Just a slow-paced walk around the old city.